So I finally had a few spare moments last night to finally log into World of Warcraft and catch up with some of my friends, maybe finish a quest or two, slowly inch my way towards level 70 so I could play with the big kids. Upon login, I am greeted by this:

Not good.

Could just be a glitch though, right? Stranger things have been known to happen. I go ahead and select my old buddy Rande here on the Ysera server, and find myself in an unfamiliar place.

Naked in the bank by a mailbox. Never a good sign.

Yes, my account was hacked, everything sellable I had was sold, the money more than likely mailed to someone on the other end of that mailbox and then mailed again and again, until it became all but untraceable.

You never think this'll happen to you, but there it is. Don't know if I got hit up by a key logger or what, but everything I played so hard for is gone. It's all fake stuff mind you, but I logged in expecting to get some quests done and hang out with my friends, and now that's not going to happen. Bastards.

Not going to beg though. I put in a petition and was answered within 30 minutes. Much faster than I expected, though I did namedrop Kotaku just a little bit. The GM took my information and escalated it to investigations, assuring me that they will be able to help me recover my things, which would be pretty spiffy of them.

Now I set about the task of changing my passwords for just about everything, just in case. Pondering cleaning my hard drive off and starting fresh, just in case. It's enough to make me want to buy a Mac.

My suggestion? Monitor the hell out of your computer for items running that you don't know, change your password on a regular basis, and don't get too attached to the items you've collected, because tomorrow they might not be there. Michael Fahey

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